The $25 million sale of a spec mansion in Las Vegas has shattered records as the biggest sale in the city’s history.
LoanDepot founder Anthony Hsieh agreed to pay $25 million for the 15,000-square-foot mansion that developing company Blue Heron built on 1.26 acres of land in the gated Macdonald Highlands community, According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The sale is unusual in more than just the record-breaking price. Hsieh bought the home while immediately agreeing to lease it back to Blue Heron for 30 months so that the company can showcase its design and use it as a show home to market other properties in that time period.
“That was always the intention to use this to demonstrate what we’re capable of and for ideas and inspiration for our clients,” Blue Heron CEO Tyler Jones told the Review-Journal.
Boasting views of both the Las Vegas strip and the Red Rock Mountains, the home known as Vegas Modern 001 is built out of natural wood and stone and decorated with metaquartzite stone. It comes with three en-suite bedrooms, a glass bridge leading onto views of of the desert, its own elevator, an office suite, a billiards room, a wine cellar, a private garden and an 11-car garage. The glass walls and 31-foot ceilings create depth while a lighted three-story staircase connects the three levels.
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Still, the biggest luxury is perhaps the ample use of water in the Nevada desert: pools of water lead up to the main entrance and give the impression that the entire living area is floating. The house also has three pools (an indoor one, an outdoor one and a reflecting one) as well as an outdoor shower and hot tub. 300 solar panels have been placed on the roof to make use of Nevada’s desert sun for its energy needs.
“Vegas Modern is not a style,” Jones said. “It’s a thought process, approach and philosophy totally independent of style. This is about designing and building environments that are true to our time and place. It’s about homes that are appropriate for the social and human side of things as well as the climate and the environment.”
The house was finished in April and sold by Synergy Sotheby’s International Realty’s Kristen Routh-Silberman, who represented both Hsieh and the seller. The last sale record in Las Vegas was set in 2016, when illusionist David Copperfield bought a house for $17.55 million.
Prices over $20 million have been virtually unheard of in Las Vegas up until now but, over the past decade, the Southwest has seen its home values sky-rocket compared to the rest of the country. Las Vegas Realtors reported that sales prices rose 22 percent from May 2020 to May 2021 while president Aldo Martinez told the Wall Street Journal that there were 747 sales above $1 million up until now in 2021. In all of 2019, that number was only 531.